Most of you most likely know that there is hardwood and softwood furniture. It is not the hardness of the wood that separates them apart when coming to select your furniture. The absolute dissimilarities is a little more difficult.

The start of the name hard or soft wood possibly came from loggers who rated wood on the ease of felling. When observing wood, of course hardwood is usually harder, but there are oddities out there, such as balsa – a hard wood that is very soft.¨

The real variation is based on the procreation of the trees. Whilst hardwoods are angiosperms, whereby their seeds need some type of shield such as shell or marrow, softwoods are gymnosperms, which means their seeds are “naked”. Trees that are evergreen, they keep their needles/leaves over the year, are softwood, they also grow much faster than their hardwood counterparts. More than 80% of the world’s timber yield comes from softwood trees, even though there many more types of hardwood trees grown. Softwoods typically come in the form of pines, spruces and firs, while hardwood trees are typically mahogany, walnut, oak and maple.

The most important dissimilarity comes from the microscopic structure. Softwood is deficient in the pores which allow water transportation in hardwoods. The dissimilarities between grade in both hardwoods and softwoods depends on this. Hardwood furniture is usually considered to be of higher quality than softwood furniture. This is normally because the wood is heavier, making it sturdier and is more scratch resilient. Predominant attractive patterns in hardwood make it an attractive acquistition for the discerning buyer.

Nevertheless, softwood furniture has its own benefits. Caring for the environment is necessary as softwood trees grow faster forest reproduction is quicker. Dealing with softwood is not as difficult so costs can be kept down, which passes on a saving to the consumer.

When you buy softwood furniture, you need to be aware that it does damage easier, thus you need to take care of it. On the other side, hardwood can remain for decades if taken care of correctly. To give an instance of this; many generations of your family may have sat in the hardwood seats in your local church.

Sadly there is an enemy of wood and that is humidity. This is especially the case for porous hardwood furniture, which may swell, shrink or crack as a result of fluctuating humidity. This lead us to write an article, which will be published shortly, about the proper care of wooden furniture, so it lasts as long as possible and still looks good.

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